The 1929 Chatham Cup was the seventh annual nationwide knockout football competition in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The competition was run on a regional basis, with six regional associations (Auckland, Wellington, Poverty Bay, Manawatu, Canterbury, and Otago) each holding separate qualifying rounds.

Electric Soccer

Blandford Park Blandford Park, in Auckland, New Zealand, was the home of association football in Auckland for much of the 20th century, and one of the country's main football grounds. Located in Grafton Gully, northeast of Grafton Bridge, roughly between the ...

held Auckland's first Chatham Cup match under electric lighting in 1929. The first round fixture between

Auckland Thistle Auckland Thistle is a soccer club in New Zealand. Competed * 1925 Chatham Cup * 1926 Chatham Cup * 1930 Chatham Cup * 1934 Chatham Cup (winner) * 1936 Chatham Cup (runner-up) Players * Dennis Smith * Les Wood * Cliff Banham * Murray Ka ...

and YMCA (Auckland) in extra time, was completed under floodlighting. On 12 June, in a second round fixture, Northcote were scheduled for an evening kick off against Thistle at Blandford Park at 7:30pm, though due to bad weather the match was rescheduled to take place on 19 June, and again was postponed due to the weather. On 26 June the match was again postponed due to the state of Blandford Park. Finally on the evening of 3 July the match took place, with Thistle defeating Northcote 3–2. After the succession of postponements the Auckland FA petitoned the NZ council for an extension to their qualification scheduling. After being given the date of the 27th of July for the North Auckland FA decider, the Auckland FA then put the question to the remaining five clubs who decided through committee that Tramways should be awarded the position of Auckland contender.

Teams

Otago

Seacliff Seacliff comprises a beach, an estate and a harbour. It lies east of North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. History The beach and estate command a strategic position at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, and control of the area has been con ...

Canterbury

Christchurch Thistle Christchurch Thistle was a soccer club in New Zealand. The club lost 6 of the clubs first 11 during World War II, including Alan Charles Davies. Club President Mr. A McAnulty said that "while the club was proud of the way in which its members h ...

Nomads A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

, Rangers,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, St. Albans,

New Brighton A.F.C. New Brighton Association Football Club is the name of two football clubs from the seaside resort of New Brighton, in Wallasey, Merseyside in England. The original club founded in 1921 were members of the Football League from 1923 until 1951, ...

Wellington

Hospital, Institute Old Boys'

Hawkes Bay

Manawatu

St Andrew's, Palmerston North Returned Services Association (R.S.A.)

Poverty Bay

Gisborne Thistle Gisborne Thistle AFC is an association football club based in the city of Gisborne, in the North Island of New Zealand. For many years, the club played second-fiddle to neighbours Gisborne City (with whom they share the Childers Road Reserve gro ...

Auckland

Auckland F.A: Tramways, YMCA (Auckland), Celtic (Auckland),

, Ponsonby,

Onehunga Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill. Onehunga is a ...

, Bon Accord, Auckland Corinthians,

Manurewa Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The suburb is b ...

, Belmont, Rangers (Auckland) South Auckland F.A:

Huntly Thistle Huntly Thistle are an association football club based in the New Zealand town of Huntly, in the northern Waikato region. The club currently have teams in the WaiBop Premiership, Senior Men's, Senior Women's, Juniors and WSSFA College. Earlier ...

(withdrew) North Auckland F.A: Waro Wanderers (withdrew)

The 1929 final

Seacliff's George Anderson, Bill Rogers, Bill Murray, and Bill Hooper were each playing in their fourth final, at that time record. Unfortunately for them, Tramways totally dominated the final. The only goal of the first half came from Clem Bell, though Seacliff came close to equalising before the break. In the second half, though, Seacliff were outclassed. Early on in the half Seacliff keeper T. Jackson managed to get a hand to a shot from F. Lewis but was unable to keep the ball for entering the goal (some sources name Evan Williams was the scorer of this goal). Harry Spencer added two more goals for the Aucklanders, but there was controversy when no penalty was awarded for a clear handball by a defender in front of the Tramways goal late in the match.

Results

Auckland Qualifiers

Note: Tramways declared winner of Auckland section by remaining clubs and A.F.A. after postponements delayed the competition

North Auckland/Auckland Qualifier

Poverty Bay/South Auckland (Waikato) Qualifier

Canterbury Qualifiers

Wellington Qualifiers

Manawatu Qualifiers

Quarter-finals

''note:'' Seacliff was the only entrant from the lower South Island and entered the competition as South Island finalists.

Semi-finals ("Island finals")

Final

Teams Tramways: Jack Batty, J. McElligott, Ernie Simpson, Jack Tinkler, Jim Christie, Joe Fyvie, A. Spong, Clem Bell, Harry Spencer, Evan Williams, F. Lewis. Seacliff: T. Jackson, George Anderson, Bill Rogers, Bill Murray, Hugh Munsie, A. Maxwell, J. McLaughlan, W. Simmons, Bill Hooper, Tom McCormack, Rab McLean.

References

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation New Zealand 1929 page
Chatham Cup

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are 2022 winners Auck ...

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